webpack dev server

The webpack-dev-server is a little node.js express server, which uses the webpack-dev-middleware to serve a webpack bundle. It also has a little runtime which is connected to the server via socket.io. The server emit information about the compilation state to the client, which reacts on that events.

By default an empty html page is server, which references /bundle.js. You can specify a custom html page or pass an url to your server page (if you have some server logic).

The webpack-dev-server has a CLI and a node.js API.

All webpack CLI options and webpack API options are valid for the dev-server too. Read webpack-dev-middleware for more information. CLI: A webpack.config.js is accepted too.

CLI

There are some additional options:

• --content-page <file>: Path to a custom html page
• --content-url <url>: Url to your server page
• --quiet: Don't output anything to the console
• --no-info: Suppress boring information
• --port <number>

API

var WebpackDevServer = require("webpack-dev-server");
var webpack = require("webpack");

var server = new Server(webpack({
  // webpack options
}), {
  // webpack-dev-server options
  content: "/path/to/index.html",
  // or: contentUrl: "http://localhost/",
  
  // webpack-dev-middleware options
  quite: false,
  noInfo: false,
  lazy: true,
  watchDelay: 300,
  publicPath: "/assets/",
  headers: { "X-Custom-Header": "yes" },
  stats: { colors: true }
}

See webpack-dev-middleware for documentation on middleware options.